[News] Israeli ‘diplomatic offensive’ urges sanctions against Iran

[7aMoDi]

An antimissile system operates as Iran-launched drones and missiles target Israel [Amir Cohen/Reuters]

 

Israel has launched a “diplomatic offensive” against Iran, calling for sanctions against the Islamic republic. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that he has contacted 32 countries calling on them to impose sanctions against Tehran. The move comes as Israel mulls a military response to Iran’s attack on Israel.

Iran says its attacks on Saturday, using more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, were in retaliation for Israel’s strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria. That attack killed 13 people, including two commanders of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The Israeli military said it intercepted 99 percent of the aerial threats with the help of the United States and other allies, and that the attack caused only minor damage, including to a military base in the country’s south.

“Alongside the military response to the firing of the missiles and the UAVs, I am leading a diplomatic offensive against Iran,” Katz said on X. “This morning, I sent letters to 32 countries and spoke with dozens of foreign ministers and leading figures around the world, calling for sanctions to be imposed on the Iranian missile project and that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps be declared a terrorist organisation”.

Katz did not specify which governments he had asked to impose the sanctions. The IRGC is already blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the United States and is subject to EU sanctions. “Iran must be stopped now – before it is too late,” Katz insisted.

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/16/israeli-minister-urges-sanctions-in-diplomatic-offensive-against-iran